[WSIS CS-Plenary] message from Itsumi - internet gov mtg on 26-27 Feb in Geneva

[Rik Panganiban]

Dear Colleagues,

The Secretary General of the WSIS and the ITU, Yoshio Utsumi, has 
posted a general message to the WSIS website.  He announces in this 
message a meeting on internet governance taking place from 26 - 27 
February in Geneva, which will provide a "forum for exchanging views on 
definitions, viewpoints, visions and analytical studies on Internet 
governance."

Below is the entire message.

Rik Panganiban
WFM

..................................


Message from Mr. Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary General of ITU and Secretary 
General of the World Summit on the Information Society

As we look back to the Geneva phase of the World Summit on the 
Information Society attended by 11,000 participants including 44 Heads 
of state or government and vice-presidents, we can be proud of our 
collective accomplishments. The Geneva phase clearly placed the issue 
of ICTs on the agenda of world leaders and produced consensus on the 
importance of shaping the Information Society in a constructive manner 
beneficial to all citizens. Leaders also agreed on the importance of 
ICTs in addressing many of the major social, political and economical 
problems and the important role that ICTs can play as an essential tool 
in reaching many of the goals expressed in the Millennium Declaration. 
The Action Plan sets forth a firm commitment to meet concrete targets 
to "connect the world' and bring the benefits of ICTs to all nations.

In addition, many multi-stakeholder partnership initiatives were 
announced during the Summit. Cisco and ITU signed a Memorandum of 
Understanding to open 20 more Internet Training Centres in developing 
countries. Microsoft, working with UNDP, will create a billion dollar 
program to bring ICT skills to underserved communities. The UN ICT Task 
Force with Ireland, Sweden, Canada and Switzerland announced the global 
e-school project to connect schools and communities in the developing 
world. And at the very close of the Summit, the cities of Geneva and 
Lyon and the Government of Senegal announced contributions totaling 
about 1 million euros to fund ICT projects in developing countries, 
representing the first payments towards the Digital Solidarity Fund.

I would like to thank the many participants in the process. In 
particular, I thank the host country of the Geneva phase, Switzerland, 
for their substantial efforts and contributions. As well, I am grateful 
to Mr. Adama Samassekou, the PrepCom President of the Geneva phase, for 
his energy and commitment to this process. A special thanks also goes 
to those who made financial or organizational contributions to the 
Summit.

Together, we are now faced with the challenge of transforming the 
vision and plans endorsed in the Geneva phase into concrete action. The 
Geneva Summit called for a preparatory meeting to be held in the first 
half of 2004 to establish the structure of the Tunis phase. As 
preparation for that meeting has been entrusted to the Bureau for the 
Tunis phase, the establishment of the Bureau for the Tunis phase is one 
of the most urgent matters requiring attention. The two ex officio 
members of the Bureau, Tunisia and Switzerland, are expected to play a 
key role in this process. I sincerely hope that the new Bureau members 
will meet informally at the beginning of February to commence their 
task.

The Geneva phase also identified two major issues to be resolved under 
the auspices of UN Secretary General, namely Internet governance and 
financing mechanisms. To contribute to the discussion on Internet 
governance, ITU will organize a workshop on 26 - 27 February in Geneva, 
which provides a forum for exchanging views on definitions, viewpoints, 
visions and analytical studies on Internet governance .

I look forward to working with the many stakeholders involved in this 
exciting and important undertaking. In particular, I am pleased to 
begin working closely with Tunisia, the host country of the second 
phase as we prepare for November 2005. 

Mr. Yoshio Utsumi
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  Rik Panganiban             email: rikp at bluewin.ch
  Special Adviser            Mobile: +41 76 473 3274
  World Federalist Movement  www.wfm.org
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